


confidants but never friends

by i_was_human



Category: Lost in Translation (Webcomic)
Genre: Dongho and Minsoo are Scary, Gen, No beta we die like mne, Relationship Study, i wrote this in 30 minutes help
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:26:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26391880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human
Summary: a relationship study on minsoo, dongho, and the time before debut
Relationships: Kang Dongho | D.Min & Lee Minsoo
Kudos: 7





	confidants but never friends

For the longest time, it's just the two of them.

Minsoo and Dongho, alone but not really. Two of them, together, at a small company with no resources, trainees, or money.

And it's _hard_.

They're friends, in the sense that they're allies against the cold and harsh world, but they're not really _friends_. Confidants, but never friends - Dongho doesn't do friends, and Minsoo thinks he's a dick - but somewhere along the line, they become something closer.

More than coworkers, less than friends - the two of them tread a path together, two flashlights against the dark. Minsoo's the thinker, the one who soars into the sky and climbs trees in hopes of finding a way out of their metaphorical jungle, and Dongho's the one who waits on the ground, watching, protecting, _waiting_.

Yin and Yang - they need each other to function. They push each other forwards, flashlights flashing along the ground as they look, wait, _try to find something better_.

Now, Minsoo doesn't especially like Dongho - at the start, least of all. Dongho's a wet blanket, someone who spends too much time looking before he leaps, and that's a detriment to Minsoo's firecracker-recklessness.

Dongho has a similar concern. Minsoo _doesn't_ look before he leaps, does everything on a whim, doesn't think anything out or make any plans. It's for this reason that a lot of their time is spent actively butting heads - Dongho thinks they should wait, think things out a bit more, and Minsoo thinks they should _seize the day_ , as it were.

The way they choose to decide it is almost always via competition. 

Gaming, cooking, dancing - Dongho has a competitive streak to him Minsoo genuinely never anticipated. It's in both of them - that desire to never be anything less than first - but ties for first are ultimately pointless, so with every round, someone has to lose.

Now, make no mistake - it's not the _ideas_ they disagree on. For all their differences, Minsoo and Dongho almost always come up with the same solution for problems. The difference is in the _execution_.

For example:

Minsoo's solution for finding new members is to walk around the city and accost random strangers in hopes of enlisting them to the company. Dongho, naturally, thinks that's the dumbest fucking idea he's ever heard.

Dongho's solution is to do a quasi-marketing campaign, posting things on social media and doing small shows around the city to attract people. Minsoo thinks that's idiotic, and something doomed to fail.

So, naturally, both of them do their own things out of sheer spite.

(that's a great motivating factor, spite. especially for two people motivated by nothing more than _because i say so_.)

* * *

For the longest time, it's just the two of them, and it _shows_.

Even when Daehyun joins them, and later Jaewon, Dongho and Minsoo always act a little bit differently.

There's an ease there, an ease that comes from knowing a room so well you can traverse it even with your eyes shut. An ease built upon hundreds of hours spent traveling a jungle with just two flashlights and a desperate dream to see the sun, an ease built upon the understanding and begrudging acknowledgement of competence.

It's intimidating to those on the outside looking in, and they'd have it no other way.

After all, when they get out of each others' way to unite under a common method and goal, it's truly a force to be reckoned with. 

The first time this occurs is when the choreographer makes a series of last-minute changes that are not only _worse_ than the originals, but far too convoluted to perfect in the meagre amount of time they have left to do so. Minsoo and Dongho exchange looks before Dongho steps forwards, and proceeds to deliver an absolutely _scathing_ rebuke of the woman's change, as well as managing to slip in some choice words about her competence and suitability to properly choreograph for _anyone_ , much less an idol group.

She may cry.

Minsoo's there when she does with a tissue and a pat on the back, and if he comforts her by suggesting that they could _maybe_ switch it back to the original, because _that just works better, don't you think_? and she nods, leaving Jaewon and Daehyun to watch, stunned.

Truly, Minsoo and Dongho combined are a force of nature. 

Their connection shows in other ways as well. A protein bar tossed across the room and snatched out of the air, something winding up in someone's bag that they forgot that day, the same arguments rehashed dozens of times, each time coming to the same conclusion - they have a rhythm, even if that rhythm is built on irritation.

Even the irritation starts to fade with time, giving way to a sort of grudging respect. Dongho may not agree with Minsoo's methods, but he can handle them, and Minsoo may not agree with how wary Dongho is, but he can understand it.

This new sort of respect opens the door for a much more brotherly relationship - Minsoo teasing Dongho on a regular basis, and Dongho adopting the role of the snarky stoic. It suits them both well, with Minsoo's quick tongue being the avenue for many half-baked plans, and Dongho's penchant for silence giving him the time to properly formulate a plan. It's not something that will be easily noticed by outsiders, nor is it something that they would consider special, but anyone at High Class knows they're a force to be reckoned with. 

After all, there are... rumors.

Rumors of people who might've been rude to Minsoo and suddenly found their identity stolen or investments plummeting, rumors of people who've been condescending towards Dongho and wound up with mice in their locker or itching powder in their clothes.

Nothing that can be pinned back to them, of course, but. 

Well.

If they didn't plan to have people find out, then nobody would've known. 

They're both skilled enough for that.

And, in many ways, having a reputation is the best way to preemptively deter people. Minsoo can only buy so much itching powder, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from hold me tight or don't by fall out boy
> 
> [twit](https://twitter.com/i_was_human_) | [lit fic discord!](https://discord.gg/CNunB74)


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